In late 1974, I went to the WBAI-FM (NYC) Christmas Craft Show (which benefits the station) and found this great hanging stained-glass Rolling Stones logo (which I photographed in June, 1975). It’s about 10″ by 6″. I don’t recall what I paid for it, but it wasn’t a lot.

I still have it and still LOVE the Stones (who I photographed a half-dozen times).

 

 

 

The master of the house I was living in at the time was my roommate’s cat, Damien. You did NOT mess with Damien!

 

 

 

That house was in River Edge, NJ, and this picture was taken in my bedroom. I had acquired a folding metal record rack sometime in the early 70s from my hometown record store – the Teaneck Record Shop – when it closed. I used it until 1988.

The posters are 10cc and BOC (and if you don’t know who BOC is, look at the next picture). I got to shoot BOC the same year in the next town (Paramus) in the college where I was working.

The album artists I can make out in this less-than-optimally-exposed shot are: John Lennon, Eric Clapton, Neil Young, Rainbow, the Stones, Zeppelin, Hendrix, Robert Klein, two by the Tubes, Humble Pie, Frampton, Rick Derringer, Alice Cooper, Bowie, Be-Bop Deluxe (anybody remember them?), Aerosmith, Jo Jo Gunne, Lee Michaels, Mountain, Lou Reed, Springsteen, Joe Walsh, Johnny Winter and a rare-ish Zep booklet.

Only mellow, acoustic folk songs for me.

 

 

 

OK – so I didn’t actually take this March, 1975 picture myself, but I might have if I had a tripod with me that night. I was a big BOC fan and this show was in the gym of the college where I was a faculty member, so I got to sit in the front row and also take pictures on stage and in the dressing room (but you’ll have to go to my site to see those).

OK – now we’re getting into some photographic variety.

I started the year off with a dark-haired GF (see below stop-action shot of her) and finished it with a blonde – an interesting year.

 

 

 

This crappily-colored shot of me and Ronnie Spector was taken in a stairwell at William Paterson College (now William Paterson University) in Wayne, NJ, at a Southside Johnny & the Asbury Park Jukes show. She and the band had a single out at the time called “You Mean So Much To Me” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xERh3DH3x_4).

 

 

 

I was living in a house in River Edge, NJ, with 3 other people and way too many cats, courtesy of my roommate Bob, who was the lead singer for the popular North Jersey cover band, Pegasus.

The pictures show 7 of the cats (Bob’s holding the latest 3). His main cat, Damien, can be seen in the 1975 listing.

Thanks to the cats, the house STUNK, but my bedroom door was always shut, so my room was odor-free. This worked to my advantage when I brought a date home. I didn’t have to try to talk anyone into coming up to my room. Holding their noses, they made a beeline for it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Two weeks after meeting the blonde GF, she took me on a school-scouting road trip to the University of Connecticut, which had interesting-looking buildings, eye-catching stair shadows, nice flowers and a peculiar pairing of transportation vehicles to photograph.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The following month, we visited my Alma Mater – Ramapo College – whose Arch is its centerpiece and focal point. Too bad the sun wasn’t shining on it when we were there.

 

 

 

Then we went around to the back of the school:

From my site:

The garage in back housed the school’s sculpture classes (I had taken a class in it 3 years earlier).

I don’t know who created this, but Dr. Judith Peck was the main faculty member in that area, so I’d better give her credit.

 

 

 

The Ramapo Mountains and the Ramapo Reservation are right across the street from Ramapo College. I’m dubbing this one “Coke Bottle Mountain” (turn it sideways).

 

The biggest local event of 1976 – the nation’s Bicentennial – was Operation Sail, the parade of tall ships up and down the Hudson River between NJ and NY.

My roommate knew someone who could get us in to view the event from the grounds of a ritzy high-rise in Fort Lee, NJ, high atop the mighty Palisades and near the George Washington Bridge.

Unfortunately, the sky was overcast, the pictures weren’t my sharpest, they came out heavily blue and seemed to have dust embedded in them. It took forever to spot them out (and lose a good chunk of the blue) in Photoshop, but they were too historically important to NOT spend the time doing it.

Some, however, came out fairly well and it’s interesting to see the sailors lined up on the ships AND the thousands of people lined up on the NYC shoreline and above them on the West Side Highway.

And then there are the historic NYC structures behind and above everything else. In at least two of the pictures, you can see Riverside Church, Grant’s Tomb and – behind the tomb – part of the old Triboro/Triborough Bridge, which connects Manhattan with Queens and The Bronx.

That’s a lot of interesting stuff in one shot.

 

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Sitting on a busy highway (Rt. 46 in Ridgefield Park, NJ) and surrounded by comparatively drab buildings and homes, this place really stood out for many years.

At first, you think, “Man, is this guy patriotic!”, but then you realize that not only is that probably the case, but it was actually a business – “Alert Flag & Banner” (plus, apparently, pumpkins in October).

 

 

 

Here’s something you don’t see anymore – a custom cigarette ad that fits the shape of a building (this was taken somewhere in Manhattan):

 

 

 

All-American trifecta: the flag, the Goodyear blimp and ridin’ down the highway (actually, stopped on the highway to get this picture):

 

 

 

Towards the end of August, 1977, the GF and I took a week-long vacation in a bungalow in Montauk, NY, where I got to take pictures of the Montauk Point Lighthouse, the Lake Montauk gulls at sunset and, for all you Rolling Stones fans with a good memory…………the Memory Motel.

Some of these B&W scans were VERY grainy, but the squawking bird and the odd plane (“whut the hell IS that thang?”) are still interesting.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The last interesting picture I shot there was taken as we were just starting to drive home.

From my site:

Everywhere I go, I’m always finding silly signs. I used to drive my girlfriend crazy on the road because I’d stop the car all of a sudden, grab my camera, and jump out. “NOW what did you see? I didn’t see anything”. When the film was later developed, I’d show her and she’d see.

Leaving Montauk after a vacation, we turned this corner and I suddenly jammed on the brakes. “NOW what?” (as I ran out the door).

Most people who’ve seen this photo have accused me of setting the shot up by bending the sign myself. That didn’t happen – there’s so much weird stuff out there, I don’t need to manufacture unusual situations. I just see ’em and shoot ’em.

 

 

 

In November, I shot another lighthouse, this time in New Haven, CT. Although the beam appears to be very bright at dusk, it’s actually not on. It’s the sun and I shot it in late afternoon, stopping the camera down to make the light fit in its “container”.

Maybe I’m now starting to be creative instead of just observant.

From the same location, I also took the next picture, which shows the Long Island Sound.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The opportunity that had the most potential to be really special was at the World Trade Center. Unfortunately, I had a big argument with the GF over God-knows-what that put me in a really bad mood and I just didn’t feel like shooting.

Luckily, something within told me I’d better get at least a couple of shots while I was up there. Good thing I did because it was my only visit to the top of the WTC and I’m happy with what I got (except for the fact that the scans came out grainy).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From my site:

Garden State Parkway, southern NJ 1978

Ridiculous at face value, this actually DOES make sense.

The Parkway has some rest/food/gas stops on the center island of the road. If you’re leaving and want to go south, you have to drive around the building to get to the southbound lanes and this sign directs you around the building.

It’s just funnier if I don’t tell you any of that, so fuhgeddaboudit.

 

 

 

I’m not sure, but I think these are Edgewater, NJ’s fireworks against the Empire State Building.

 

 

I had photographed the Blues Brothers on their first gig outside of Saturday Night Live – and before they even had their own band – 5 months earlier (those pix are on my site), but I came across this image while researching my archive for this blog project and thought about including it.

The show was at Carnegie Hall and the band was opening for Steve Martin. My seat was in the top deck – about as far away as you could be.

The boys now had their real band (Steve Cropper and Duck Dunn are behind Jake and Elwood) and because it turned out to be the only show I ever shot (or attended) at Carnegie Hall, I’m including this crappy photo of a special show.

 

 

 

Dunno why I was in Manhattan this day, but I had my camera with me. The overcast sky wasn’t helping much, but I had never seen horses tied to a fence in Midtown before and haven’t been to many Yugoslavian demonstrations, so I thought those were pictures worth taking – especially the one with the happy old lady petting the horse.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The GF and I flew to Florida’s west coast (Fort Myers?) to visit two of her elderly relatives. The first 4 pictures were taken from a moving boat. That first one needed some really good timing to achieve symmetry (he says, modestly).

A couple of these shots from the boat look a bit oversharpened.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Closeup of pelican’s protective eyelid (closed), known as a nictitating membrane.

 

 

More pelicans:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’m especially happy with the sunset shots. When I saw the strolling couple approaching, I moved quickly to include the palm frond in the frame.

In the other sunset shot – which I call “Sunpocket” – I think that’s Sanibel Island in the distance.

 

 

 

 

 

 

On the humorous side………………

From my site:

This was another of those see-something-and-jam-on-the-brakes shots, but more difficult to shoot.

I saw this while driving on a divided highway. I turned around and went back to get the shot, but had no wide-angle lens with me. To back up far enough to get it all in, I had to stand on the highway’s divider! Kinda dangerous, but doesn’t top the night I stood on a metal car with a metal camera and tripod to shoot lightning.

I have NO IDEA what the “Jolly Jumping Grandmothers” thing was about (maybe it’s better that way), but National Lampoon found it interesting enough to publish on their “Readers’ Page”.

 

 

 

My 18-and-a-half-year GRAMMAR school reunion (!?)

I never went to any of my high school reunions. I went to an all-boys Catholic high school – why would I want to go? To see if the guys kept their schoolgirl figures? I didn’t particularly enjoy my time there anyway, so who cares?

I DID, however, enjoy my time at co-ed Holy Trinity Grammar School in Hackensack, NJ, so when I got an out-of-the blue invitation in December 1979 to go to a reunion of the class of 1961 – 18 ½ years later (a nice round number) – I looked forward to it.

Of course, I would be bringing my camera and tripod.

It was held on a Sunday afternoon in the school’s cafeteria. When I got there, I recognized everyone immediately, but I got not a glimmer of recognition, so before I said a word to anyone, I asked loudly for everyone’s attention and announced that I was a photographer – never giving a name – who was hired to photograph the event and that I would be running around taking pictures.

Everyone accepted that, posed willingly and no one suspected a thing.

At some point, I made a second announcement – a two-parter:

1. “Before the afternoon is over, I will need to take a group shot before anyone leaves.”

2. “And by the way…………I was NOT hired to photograph this event. I’m your classmate, Bob Leafe……………or Robert Leafe, if you’re a nun. I guess I changed a little bit.”

They were kind of surprised – especially the women (I got some nice attention after that). A couple of formerly-clique-ish 13 year-olds became very friendly 32 year-olds.

When I graduated HTS, I was 5’2″. When I graduated high school, I was 5’11”. I think I went from the shortest guy in this class to the tallest – at least amongst the guys who showed up.

As the fun wound down, I set up the group shot, using the timer so I could run around and stand in the back (on the far right). Even without my Afro, I’m taller than everyone else.

I even got a date out of the deal…………..that already makes it better than any of my high school reunions could have ever been.

 

 

 

I shot this sharp-dressed man in the annual Ridgefield Park Fourth of July parade. I lived about 3 doors away from it, so how could I not?

 

 

 

I used to shoot for NYC rock powerhouse WNEW-FM, which used to hold annual Bike-a-thons for cerebral palsy in NYC’s Central Park, so I shot while the GF biked.

The first picture shows three of NEW’s DJs: (l-r) Scott Muni, Meg Griffin and Tom Morrera. Tom and I became friends and it was very sad when he passed in 2012.

As the event was winding down, popular DJ Pete Fornatale asked me and the GF if we could give him a ride down to the station so he wouldn’t be late for his show.

Sure!

He gave us a tour of the studio and I took a picture of him that did NOT turn out well, but I’m including it because I was proud to know him.

Unfortunately, he also died in 2012.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fortunately, no one died in the wings of the Capitol Theatre in Passaic, NJ, thanks to these helpful signs. That second sign plants a scary visual in the mind.

 

 

 

November 8, 1979: my last day running the physical science labs at the college I worked for…………the last day of using the chemistry degree I put so much effort into getting.

I had shot concerts for the entire 6+ years that I was there and this is when I dumped security and chemicals for full-time passion and music – probably the best decision I ever made.

In the picture, I’m shown at my desk wearing a “Wave” button from Patti Smith’s 1979 “Wave” album, as I waved bye-bye to this aspect of my life.

 

 

 

The GF’s Mom’s cats

From my site:

Flash closeups of animals’ eyes are always interesting. We only get red-eye……………they get the spectrum.

 

 

 

Window cleaners:

 

 

 

My favorite “waste” shot

From my site:

Lexington Ave., Clifton, NJ 1980

Why is this cool-looking shot a “waste”?

I had just finished shooting a show at the Capitol Theatre in Passaic. After a show, I usually went to the Kodak plant in Fair Lawn, NJ to drop off my film in the night box before I went home.

If there are still a couple of shots left on a roll in my camera after the show, I hate to not use them, so I “waste” them by taking strange open-shutter shots as I’m driving to Kodak.

In this one, I was stopped at a red light, holding the camera on the dashboard. Just before the light turned green, I opened the shutter.

The red lights are the brake lights of the car in front of me. The white lights are the headlights of the car in the opposite lane. When the light turned green, he took off and you can see his headlights driving by me.

In the greenish lights on the left, the vertical word ‘DINER’ can be made out. This is the Lexington Diner.

This shot is my favorite waste of time.

 

 

 

I shot a show at the Capitol Theatre in Passaic, NJ, one evening. From there, the GF and I drove to Asbury Park, NJ, where I shot a late show. When THAT was over, we drove through the night a couple hundred miles to Springfield, VA, where we visited my aunt and cousins.

After resting up, we then headed for Virginia’s Luray Caverns, which was on the way to our final destination: the grand metropolis of Piney Flats, TN, to visit the GF’s aunt and sister.

The Caverns:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Just before we hopped on I-81 after visiting the Caverns, I spotted this odd sign:

 

 

Since no one believes that such a place exists when I mention “Piney Flats”, I took a picture of a map where I’ve circled the town, which is located just above Johnson City.

 

 

The aunt lived by a lake and had a boat. The GF liked to water-ski and had a BF who liked to take stop-action pictures.

 

 

Tennessee highways offered me some photographic sights I don’t normally see in New Jersey:

 

 

 

 

 

So did a cemetery in Gray, TN.

From my site:

“I think this is my favorite funny shot, though I never found out why it says what it does. If you like this type of shot, there are towns in the US actually named ‘Boring’. Maryland has one. You can go there and shoot the Boring Library, Boring Drugstore, etc., and show your friends all your Boring shots!”

 

 

 

Back home: CBGB – despite its legend – was a terrible place to shoot a show. The one time I tried, the best shot I got was the bathroom downstairs (which made it totally worthwhile).

BTW – I added a bit to this in the 1983 post.

 

LOTS of shots this year, but mostly in the next post, so I’ll do the small stuff first in this one.

 

My favorite shot from the New York Auto Show in the old Coliseum at Columbus Circle, NYC:

 

 

From my site (and listed under “Humor”):

CHEVROLEAP

The Auto Show, NY Coliseum, NYC

I’m not sure if this is funny – it’s actually kinda sad seeing someone having to do this in front of people, but since it’s not me doing it, it’s kinda funny.

 

 

This is Mike Greenblatt, who edited thousands of my pictures for multiple publications from the 70s into the 90s:

 

 

 

From my site:

MUD WRESTLING
Great Gildersleeves, NYC

I don’t know what led to my shooting this event (yeah, right), but it was obviously a lot of fun. I wasn’t sure why they so readily let a stranger with a camera up on the stage until I got splashed with mud and they all had a good laugh.

The REAL fun was making up an excuse to my girlfriend for my muddy clothes when I got home and then her seeing these pix a week later and putting 2 and 2 together!

 

 

 

This is the ceiling at Bond (or “Bond’s”, but really “Bond International Casino”) – a big club in Times Square where I shot various acts ranging from Ray Charles to the Clash:

 

 

 

 

I took some pictures of the store window contents at Argonaut Studios in Teaneck, NJ (I’m in the first picture) – specifically, to photograph the restored picture of an intriguing woman in black from the 1920s.

 

 

It was my grandmother.

 

 

 

I was the house photographer at the late, great, legendary Capitol Theatre in Passaic, NJ. This particular night was the 10th Anniversary show.

Between acts, I went into the lobby and found two photos worth taking:

– The sign about being videotaped:

 

 

– Two bikers:

The guy whose shirt you’re looking at disapprovingly is an old friend of mine. When I met him in the mid-60s, he was known as Crazy Richie. I worked with him a few years later in a taxi company. We both loved Grand Funk Railroad and went to Madison Square Garden to see them with some of his biker friends and had a blast.

I haven’t seen him since the early 80s, but when I found this shot recently and knew I wanted to feature it here, I searched online for his phone number, found it and called him to confirm what I already knew: wearing that shirt was strictly for shock value.

I didn’t even have to tell him which shirt I was talking about (“Lemme guess……………the one with the swastika?”).

Trust me – it’s pure Crazy Richie and nothing more.

 

The GF had a convention to attend in San Francisco and a friend to see in San Diego and I had relatives to visit in Anaheim. My aunt picked us up at the airport and we stayed with her and my uncle while we were in SoCal.

My uncle – who ran a place called The Cycle Shack – let us borrow his El Camino (a very cool vehicle that you’ll see in the Disneyland pictures). We left it at the border for a quick look at Tijuana and then visited the San Diego friend, the San Diego Zoo and Olvera Street – the oldest street in LA.

At the Zoo:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I specifically told her, “Do NOT pat the goat’s butt or else its ears and horns will fall off”. Kids………

 

On Olvera St:

The owner doesn’t seem to appreciate my addition to his sign.

 

 

Somewhere outside of LA – Rancho Palos Verdes, I think – this scene caught my eye. I never got to see the rest of that building, but I’m hoping it was a residence.

 

 

In the same area (it was only 3 shots later), I saw this. Again, I’m not sure of the actual name of the town, but whatever it is, I’m renaming it “Redundancy Heights”.

I’m guessing that the Pacific Ocean wasn’t big enough for them.

 

 

Since I was a kid (when Disney World didn’t exist), I always wanted to go to Disneyland…………too much Mickey Mouse Club, I guess. We borrowed the El Camino one last time and headed on over there. The GF took a shot of me with the car in the Disneyland parking lot. This is for Uncle Billy and Aunt Marilyn.

We stayed all day and I shot the nightly Main Street Electrical Parade. We beat it back to the Aunt & Uncle’s in time to see the Disneyland fireworks from their pool.

 

 

 

 

According to his shirt, Terry’s got a pretty nice job:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So now it was time to head up to San Francisco. We rented a Thunderbird – only cool cars for us on this trip!

First two shots:

On the way north, the GF drove as I took shots out the window. Moving at 60mph, you better get it right the first time. If not, there’s no going back.

I think I did OK.

The first shot was a “time-of-day” shot…………a few hours earlier would have shown no shadow and no real reason to take the picture. By the way – I have no idea where these scenes are located and I’d love to know what structure is inside the second picture. I’m not even sure if they were before or after San Luis Obispo as you head north, but I’m leaning toward before. If anyone knows the answers to any of these questions, lemme know.

 

 

 

 

 

By the time we were approaching the San Luis Obispo area, we decided to stop at a place called the Chuck Wagon (“All you can eat!”) for dinner and to ask where we could find a local hotel for the night. BTW – the Chuck Wagon doesn’t exist anymore, so I’m glad I took this shot:

 

 

The waitress told us that there was some event going on nearby and every hotel room in the vicinity was booked solid. After looking at our glum, tired faces, she said, “Hang on a minute” and walked away.

A few minutes later, she came back with armloads of blankets and pillows. She then said to take them and drive back down the highway to a certain exit and then drive under the highway toward the ocean. There was a beach there that we could park on and sleep in the car! That’s where I took the below picture of the T-Bird. The only catch was that we would have to return the blankets/pillows the next morning………….when we would be there anyway for all-you-can-eat breakfast.

Pretty good deal, huh?

 

 

 

Once again – no idea where this is, so I’ve named the road the Drive Into The Mountain Highway:

 

 

 

From Wikipedia:

“Standing on a granite hillside off California’s scenic 17-Mile Drive in Pebble Beach, the Lone Cypress is a western icon, and has been called one of the most photographed trees in North America.”

Too bad that the weather conditions weren’t great for photos that day.

 

 

 

The first sign of San Francisco was the one for Candlestick Park (and the sight of the stadium). That was the home of the baseball Giants and the football 49ers. I’m glad I managed to get a picture of both the sign and the stadium in one shot as the car was flying down the highway.

 

 

 

The next signs were the actual sight of the city and the lanes directing traffic to various parts of it.

We were in the right one to get us to the St. Francis Hotel.

 

 

 

SAN FRANCISCO

This shot is of me and the GF in the St Francis Hotel. If it’s not obvious, I’m the one on the right.

 

 

 

While the GF was at her convention, I got to wander the city with my other GF – my camera. It’s the best place I’ve ever been to do something like that. There are SO many cool and interesting things to shoot. I got a lot, but barely scratched the surface. If you love taking pictures and you have a year or so to spend, SF is the place to do it.

I’m showing what I shot when I was just walking around in no particular order because I have no idea what I shot on which day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I found this online. It’s what the previous shot (333 Broadway) looks like today. Look at the second-floor framework…………identical.

 

 

 

 

In Chinatown:

 

 

crooked Lombard Street:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Maybe I should have introduced myself first:

 

 

 

Standing in the street, I have my choice of three different types of vehicles to get hit by:

 

 

 

 

(Back to Chinatown) I was looking for this slide for a long time, since it was one of my favorite SF shots. After I found it, I looked online for similar shots……..there must be a lot of pictures of this place online, right?

I couldn’t find a single one until I stumbled across a book about gas stations called “Fill ‘Er Up” and all it shows in the 1966 pic (following mine) is the pump area and not the cool-looking station. Boo! Hiss!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I DO remember that on the third (?) day, I hooked up with an old friend from New Jersey named Charlie who volunteered to be my tour guide for the day. We hit Baker Beach (he’s the one I surprised when he exited the beach Port-o-John). The shot after that I think was taken from where he was living. If you look closely in that third shot, you can see what looks like a hawk to the right of the Golden Gate Bridge.

 

 

 

 

 

 

He also took me to The Conservatory of Flowers in Golden Gate Park (next 3 shots) – a place I didn’t think I’d like, but I was wrong. The story and more photos can be found on my site in the California listing.

 

 

 

 

 

Just north of Ocean Beach sits the Cliff House restaurant:

 

 

 

On a non-convention day, the GF and I decided to go to Muir Woods on Mount Tamalpais, AKA Mount Tam, just on the other side of the Golden Gate Bridge in Marin County (the two spider web shots).

 

 

 

 

On the way there, we had to go through Rainbow Tunnel soon after crossing the bridge. We didn’t know about it and I wasn’t ready to shoot when we approached it, so I had to shoot it through the T-Bird’s rear window on our way back.

The tunnel has since been renamed the Robin Williams Tunnel.

 

 

I had hoped to get one of those low-cloud shots from Mt. Tam of SF’s tallest structures poking through the clouds, but ’twas not to be.

This was taken on the way back to SF:

 

 

One evening, we got to take a great boat tour of San Francisco Bay.

 

 

We cruised under both bridges, but when we went under the SF-Oakland Bay Bridge, I got a shot of a submarine doing the same thing. No one knew which sub it was or why it was there and there was nothing about it on the news.

 

 

I also got a nice shot of a sailboat that seemed to be close to tipping over (with the Transamerica Pyramid building in the background).

 

 

Remember an old Burt Lancaster movie called “The Birdman of Alcatraz”? I not only photographed Alcatraz Island, but I also got a shot of the BIRD of Alcatraz.

 

 

 

 

Finally, after passing under the Golden Gate Bridge, I got this shot before we docked:

 

 

Back on land, we went to (and I shot) a couple of dives on Pier 39:

 

 

 

 

Back at the hotel, I called my home answering machine to check my messages and found one from a publicist urging me to call her ASAP. When I did, she said she wanted to hire me to be the official photographer for a big country music concert at Shea Stadium in New York………….in a couple of days.

That meant I had to leave SF a day early and that the GF and I both had to fly home alone.

I JUST made it back in time only to find out that the show had been suddenly canceled.

Arrrrrrrrgh!

 

The old, Deco-y Teaneck Theater that was 5 blocks from home when I was a kid had been recently converted to a multi-screen facility called Cedar Lane Cinema (and currently, “Teaneck Cinemas”):

 

 

I have no idea where or when this “each-segment-contains-a thousand-lines” fireworks picture was taken. Best guess is Ridgewood, NJ in 1982.

 

 

This “these-things-don’t belong-together” Corvette/Rent-a-John shot was taken at an outdoor oldies show in Vernon, NJ – a show I had been invited to by legendary DJ Cousin Brucie (Bruce Morrow) when he visited The Uncle Floyd Show (I was the UFS photographer). If you want to see/read more about this, go to bobleafe.com and find the Chuck Berry listing (he was the headliner).

 

 

In the early-to-mid 70s, I went to a lot of concerts at The Shaefer Music Festival in NYC’s Central Park. In 1977, it changed sponsorship and became the Dr. Pepper Music Festival. At some point, it was moved to Pier 84 on the Hudson River (right next to the Intrepid aircraft carrier at Pier 86) and I went to a bunch of shows there in the 80s, where they ran until 1988.

In September 1982, the GF and I rode our bikes in Manhattan. After checking out the Intrepid from the street, we rode over to Pier 84. The concert series had already ended for the summer. I had only seen this place full of people, so this desolate-looking shot was one I had to have.

 

 

Across town by the East River, we found this car that looked like it had just fallen off the Queensboro Bridge:

 

 

Lastly, I have no idea where I took this photo, though I’m guessing it was early if that’s morning dew: